How the Auto Industry Uses Direct Mail Marketing

With so much reliance in online marketing technology, it’s easy to forget that marketing tools such as direct mail are still around and can be used getting a message to reach a target market. Direct mail marketing is simply utilizing a mail service to deliver promotional or informational materials to your intended audience.  Recent studies show that consumers actually spend more time considering direct mail pieces compared to digital advertisements that they are exposed to. In the automotive industry in particular, direct mail has been successful in the past and it continues to be today. It can help a dealership keep the current customers that they have while also generating new leads for other potential customers. Let’s take a look at how the automotive industry uses direct mail marketing.

Reaching an audience of buyers

The powerful part of direct mail marketing is that you can be strategic in your research to select certain individuals to send your direct mail to. This target group of people would need to fit the profile of people who continually do business with you at your dealership. Once you conduct the right amount of research, you can then tailor your direct mail to only be sent to this group of individuals who will be more likely to purchase a vehicle from your dealership.

Success can be measured

When you put money into a marketing campaign, it’s important to keep track of your success rate so you know whether the money you invested was worth it or not. Direct mail can easily be kept track of if you go the right way about it. There are a few different ways you can go about tracking this including:

       1. Small incentives for customers if they visit the dealership

 2. Inform them of a special promotion

 3. A customer survey

These are a few ways that you will be able to capture customer information along with being able to track if your campaign is successful or not. When evaluating your success rate, you should ask yourself some questions such as:

1. Did you get responses or not? If so, how many?

2. What was the time frame it took for you to get a response back?

3. What kind of feedback did you receive from the customers who took action on the small incentives or possible promotion that took place

Cost effective solution

As stated above, doing your research is vitally important to the success of your campaign. It also correlates directly to the cost of your direct marketing efforts also. Each piece of direct mail you send our will cost you a certain amount of money for postage to send. Therefore, if you don’t properly conduct research and send your direct mail to entire multiple zip codes, your campaign can cost you a lot. On the other hand, if you are careful in selecting the target audience to send your direct mail to, this will prove to be quite cost effective in relation to your success rate.

Even though it may seem as direct mail marketing is a thing of the past by now considering the advances of technology, it can still be very beneficial to your automotive dealership. With ample and careful research, you will be able to construct a list of potential customers to target with your direct mail that can drive traffic to your dealership.

Causes Of An Engine Block Leak

The engine block is an integral part of your car's internal combustion engine and should be inspected regularly. The power to drive the vehicle occurs by igniting a mixture of fuel and air to produce an actual "explosion." In other words, your car can't function without the engine block. They are usually made of cast iron and take several people to insert or remove from under the hood.

What does the engine block do? The engine block helps pump water from the radiator to the different parts of the engine, cooling them. It also houses pistons inside cylinders that move the vehicle’s crankshaft, which seals in the lubricating oil through the oil pan. The block holds valves, gaskets, and seals, which all work together to keep your car running.

How do I know I have a cracked engine block? You may notice coolant leaking externally. And if you discover that no gaskets, seals or hoses are leaking, brace yourself: you may have a cracked engine block. Sometimes cracked engine blocks cause internal leaking, that is, coolant gets into your oil, making it look like coffee with cream. As you might imagine, the coolant makes the oil lubricate far less effectively and can cause rust in your engine. Seek help immediately.

How does heat affect the engine block? Heat can destroy the engine block. If your engine block overheats it causes major stress to the metal, which can lead to a crack. When an engine block develops one or more cracks in its casing, you could end up having to replace the entire engine.

Another serious problem involves a "porous" engine block, caused by a defect in manufacturing. A porous engine block can leak antifreeze and/or oil. And because a porous engine is a defect, not an issue caused by your lack of care, if you notice issues shortly after purchasing your car, find out if your engine has the defect.

Note: You can have a cracked engine block inside the cylinder. This issue can be misdiagnosed as a blown head gasket.

Can I save my car? You can keep your car if it has a cracked engine block by using radiator or block sealers. Try to find a leak sealer without "fibers," because they could clog your engine. Look for a radiator and block sealer that will bond with the cast iron, producing a seal that will fix the crack and keep your engine running.

How To Fix an AC Leak

The reason your car isn’t blowing cold air is because your car is losing refrigerant gas. So first you will need to find your refrigerant leak. 

The Top Places to Visit In and Around Healdsburg, CA

Healdsburg is a small California town in Sonoma County which is indisputably known for its vineyards and wineries. Besides being the growing grounds of the county's famous grapes, the area's rolling hills and lush vegetation add to the town's great beauty. However, there are plenty of other things to do in and around Healdsburg besides winery hopping, and here are some of the city's top attractions and activities. 

How Molded Plastic Is Made

To make a plastic part for a product a mold making company is contracted to design and produce the mold. This starts as a block of high chromium steel, a steel that can withstand the injections of high pressure plastic. The block is then milled, machined and grinded down to hundredths of millimeters of precision. The mold has strategically placed holes for the guide pins and bushings that will eventually hold the mold together.

A CNC (numerically controlled) machine does the fine details, and can go for hours or even days as the mold is shaped to near perfection, and is then sometimes polished for even finer detail. Electronic measuring devices check the specifics of the size of the mold, and if any letters are needed in the cast, they are placed on in reverse. The final piece of the puzzle is the creation of cooling lines, where fluid can be injected to cool off the plastic.



CNC company in the United States (this company does fuel filters)
http://reccofilters.com

Injection molding images and further explanation
http://www.vulcanmold.com/article/Plastic-Injection-molding-process.html

Managing a Clean Household

I’m sure we've heard this phrase before. Is there life after house work? I learned an important lesson this weekend that I will share with you a bit later in this post. But first, let’s talk about why it’s good and important to have a system for our house work. We are all aware that house work never ends. In light of this, it’s important to have some regular duties that help keep it maintained and orderly.

Order

It is important for our homes to have a sense of order. It helps us think straight, it helps our kids think straight and reduces major stress. Having order means doing the same things in the same order everyday or most days.

Consistency

To maintain our order, we must be consistent. This is probably the most challenging thing about doing house work. When we’re consistent, things tend to stay a bit more calm, tidy, and most of the time caught up. When we take a day to slack for no good reason, our house work quickly backs up. Suddenly, the small tasks we were doing daily have turned overwhelmingly enormous. Our stress levels rise and we wonder how in the world we’re going to tackle it all before it tackles us!

I think the best way to keep house work at bay is to do it consistently. It doesn't matter what system or what method you adopt, as long as you stay consistent.  It saves time, energy, stress, and temper.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to get a little too excited as I start to make headway on the house work. I’m so happy that it’s been well maintained and things are in order, I falsely believe if I let it go just a little, it won’t be a big deal. How wrong I am! It is much easier to tackle the tasks when they are small. Like those few dishes in the sink. Or the one load of lonely laundry that needs to be folded. By waiting, I compound my work and end up instead with two sinks full of dishes and two baskets of laundry. Since my time is limited, it’s harder to squeeze these now larger tasks in.  So believe me when I say, tackle the work while it’s small so it won’t get out of hand.

A Stopping Point

Each evening I force myself to have a stopping point, no matter how much there is left to do (which is why I try to get all my most important tasks done first). The thing about house work that you’ll learn is that it always stays faithful to show up again the next day. I know this can seem like a downfall because you don’t want it to be there. But there will always be something that needs to get done.

It’s very important to have a stopping point each evening in order to relax, refresh, and prepare for the next day. When focusing on the day passed, try to focus on the things you did accomplish rather then the things you didn't. It seems there are always things left that I didn't accomplish and that can be rather discouraging to think about day after day. Instead, I try to reflect on all I did get done so that I can look forward to the next day with a positive start.

Now a Tip

Don’t allow house work to consume your life. It’s impossible to keep everything perfect 100% of the time. Especially with little ones. Our children need us more often then the house work. Be sure to invest the majority of your time connecting and building relationships with them. You can even have them work alongside you for some of the house work, like laundry or wiping down cabinets close to the floor. Don’t miss out on those important training opportunities. In the end, our children will not remember the house not being constantly company ready. They’ll remember the fun times with mommy, the important lessons taught, and the house being comfortably lived in.

This article was contributed by First Troy Builders, which offer Dayton Ohio Corporate Housing which, of course, are already clean when you move in. 

Bad Press

As President of the American Cash Flow Institute (“ACFI”) for the past 6 years and as one of many successful members of the cash flow industry for over 12 years, I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of the questions and clear up some of the confusing statements posted on other websites.

The cash flow industry in the United States is a multi-billion dollar business and growing every year. There are well over 60 different types of income streams that make up this industry. Each one of these different types of income streams provides a separate niche and an opportunity in which a cash flow consultant can create a prosperous business.

The cash flow business provides individuals from all walks of life [whether or not they have any advanced education] the opportunity to participate in a full or part-time business where they can actually help individuals and businesses solve finance related problems. By matching up individuals and businesses who have income streams but need or want immediate cash, with funding sources willing to purchase those income streams for immediate cash, cash flow consultants not only make money for themselves, but also resolve the cash flow problems of their clients. It really is a true win-win-win situation for all involved.

The American Cash Flow Institute (“ACFI”) is proud to be the leader in providing personal training to those people interested in joining this exciting and expanding industry, nearly as exciting as the industrial revolution all over again! We have trained thousands of Certified Cash Flow Consultants over the past 15 years. We count amongst our graduates some of the most successful cash flow consultants in the business. Some of whom have become our competitors.

The reason for this is that ACFI has combined excellent educational materials, rigorous classroom instruction, and top quality instruction with graduate support and assistance unparalleled in the industry. We offer advanced training, website development, inbound assistance, individualized outbound mentoring, a 76-page, 4-color monthly newspaper, and an annual convention. These are programs and services unique to ACFI and of which we are extremely proud.

While it is true that there are a number of people already participating in the cash flow industry, there is ample room for more. This is especially true, since most participants have found one specialized area of the cash flow industry in which to flourish, leaving the other areas for others to cultivate. Even within these specialized areas there is always room for additional cash flow consultants. That is what our free enterprise system is all about – just because Coca Cola sells millions of cans of Coke doesn’t prevent Pepsi and the myriad of other companies in that industry from successfully selling their drink products, profiting in the process. The same holds true for cash flow consultants.

As far as risk is concerned – there is risk in everything. No business, investment, hobby, vocation, or activity is without it. Of course there is risk in the cash flow industry. We at ACFI don’t claim anything to the contrary. But frankly, with a reasonable tuition fee, our massive funding source network, and our top-notch graduate support and assistance, the main risk in the cash flow system taught by ACFI is that the graduate won’t put his or her training to use. We state right in our Enrollment Form that the success of the graduate is dependent on the time, effort, and skill that the graduate invests in transforming the training into action. We can do a great deal for our graduates, but effort, dedication, and professionalism is the one thing they must do for themselves.

Our instructors teach our students how to engage in cash flow transactions without putting any of their own money at risk. This is absolutely true. But the training program, of course, has a tuition cost. Anyone who invests in any business training program, but then fails to put the training to use, will of course lose the major benefit of their investment in the training and the business. That goes without saying. On the other hand, we have graduates nationwide who prove on a regular basis that our training works for the graduate who puts it to use.

One aspect of risk we at ACFI do in fact eliminate is through a very generous withdrawal privilege we are proud to offer. The Federal Trade Commission and most states only require an organization to offer a three (3) day right to cancel from the date of any purchase. We at ACFI go well beyond that legal requirement. Our cancellation policy, which is clearly set forth on our Enrollment Form, provides any student with the right to obtain a full refund for a full 14 days or by 7:00 p.m. of the first day of the training, whichever occurs first. Since our training is three intense days long, a student has the right to attend a full third of the training, review the entire curriculum, examine all of our instructional materials, meet the instructors, and still cancel and receive a full refund. That right to cancel is absolute, may be exercised by the student for any reason whatsoever, and results in a very prompt remittance of the refund amount to the enrollee. That is one of the reasons we have been in business, as the largest training organization in the country for the cash flow industry, for over 15 years.

Regrettably, however, and from time-to-time, there are individuals who would use the Internet or chat rooms as an opportunity to shoot at the American Cash Flow Corporation and advance their own agendas and/or products. I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this letter that, often times, the sponsors of those sites, or the individuals making the postings, have a clear and competitive vested interest in trying to make themselves look good by providing misinformation or only partial information about the American Cash Flow Corporation.

Inevitably, they are competitors in the industry, or are selling books and tapes which they would have you believe are comparable to what the American Cash Flow Institute has provided for over a decade and a half, or are simply individuals who mistrust any organization marketing training programs. Without commenting on the quality of their training, services, or opinions, suffice it to say that we would not be in business today were we not providing quality training and a value proposition to the industry and our students.

While I have not attempted to respond, item by item, to the substantial misinformation and exaggerations you no doubt come across, I do hope I have answered most of your more fundamental questions and cleared up some of the misconceptions about our thriving industry and the training we offer.

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